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Another top podcast - wish you guys did one every day or at least once a week! Love The Klugs reviews and pretty much agree with him on most of his rants (he was spot on with Facebook) but have to disagree with his thoughts on removable batteries and SD cards. The battery thing is obvious, I've extended the life of a number of devices for relatively nothing simply by replacing the battery after it has degraded. The other side of it is the disposable culture, even if a user might be done with a device it could be perfectly fine for another person, not so if the battery can't be replaced - and not so useful as landfill. As far as SD cards go I agree with him in principal but until we get reasonable amounts of space (at least 32GB and preferably 64GB) and aren't totally ripped off for additional in-built storage then the only cost effective alternative are SD cards (even if we know the NAND is poor) £100 for an extra 16GB of in-built storage or £10 for an SD card with the same amount - the choice is clear cut until that trend changes.Reply

Wait, I'm confused. You refuse to use 2.4ghz wifi? There is no speed difference for general internet use between 2.4 and 5Ghz on a regular internet connection, and range on 2.4ghz still is better than on 5Ghz. Explain why you can't use the internet because they don't have 5ghz- is it a principle sort of thing? I have a ton of devices in my house (most wired) but all the laptops except mine are 2.4ghz and I don't care that they don't have 5Ghz, even though I have a RT-N66U router.

Can one of you guys explain this to me because I'm struggling to understand. Do you just have devices that DON'T have 2.4Ghz in it?Reply

I believe it has more bandwidth, there are less devices on it and it does not have the same frequency as microwaves which is especially important for gaming (i.e. someone could want a hotpocket and get you booted from your game.)

They have talked before how a 2.4 gHz wifi signal is difficult to use in a hotel or apartment.Reply

There is typically less interference from non-wifi devices like cordless phones and microwaves on 5 gHz.Additionally most wifi is 2.4 by default so when you are in an area with many users and access points the ability to operate on 5 gHz will separate you from the others.

Not everyone receives high-end smartphones for free, or can write them off as part of their job. Most people either buy them subsidized and are stuck with them on a two-year (in Canada, THREE-year) contract, or they buy them outright and have to keep them anyway because we can't justify dropping hundreds of dollars on a phone every year. So, to respond to your flippant comment about "who keeps a phone for 2 or 3 years", MOST PEOPLE DO. I have replaced the battery in my phone, and my wife's phone, both HTC G2's from late 2010.

That's right. Phones with QWERTY keyboards. You complain and moan about not having top-notch camera hardware and think that the manufacturers should change their designs to appeal to you, while at the same time arguing that "the ship has sailed" for QWERTY keyboards. I would definitely prefer the manufacturers save a buck on the camera in order to give me a keyboard. If I want a good camera "for weddings", I'm certainly not going to be using a phone.

As for SD storage, I can't believe anyone, at this point in time, can possibly make an argument against it. Even looking at the incredible value of the Nexus 4, Google themselves still add $50 for a mere 8GB of extra NAND, and the top-end model is 16GB. The cloud? In this very podcast you laugh about being on 2G or GPRS! What good is the cloud there? Not everyone has an unlimited data plan, so what good is the cloud to them? Some people travel outside of their home country and end up roaming where data is $1/MB or more, so what good is the cloud to them? I have a 32GB microSD card that has pictures, music, and movies on it (currently using roughly 20GB), all of which are replaceable should the card fail, but it means I don't have to depend on the cloud. If the flash does fail, it is ridiculously cheap and easy to replace. I do not install applications on the card, so speed isn't an issue either.

I will only agree that the expandable storage "ship has sailed" when manufacturers actually ship phones with a minimum of 16GB, with 32GB and 64GB options that don't add $100 for each additional 16GB of NAND.Reply

You mention spend the extra $1 for 5GHz...how about spend the whopping extra $1 for SD?

Also batteries don't last more than 2 years for most masses because most people are idiots and plug their phones in overnight. It either needs to be easily accessible or have a snap removable back.Reply

I love how you call everyone who wants an mSD slot or a removable battery stupid, yet you insist on having 5GHz or .ac wifi on any device. I'm pretty sure you are in the minority there yourself. I know all the people around me who use wifi have the supplied router/wifi combo from their ISP and most of them have no 5GHz capabilities and the few that do don't have it turned on by default and the people using them won't mess with that either. The people I know who use smartphones and wifi use their home network and nothing more. So by your own logic, I should call you stupid for insisting on that. I'm pretty disappointed in those last statements you made about that, not acknowledging that some people have usage models for an mSD card and removable batteries. And trumping up the bad endurance/performance of mSD NAND is no argument against having it. It's just an argument for not using it for performance intensive/mission critical/non backed up files. Reply

Very good to hear that I am not the only one really disappointed by that kind of attitude. I'm a long time reader of Anandtech and value the analysis and opinions highly, but suggesting to throw away a perfectly usable phone just because the battery died or the storage is not enough after a year or two of usage is just arrogant.

I like to give my "old" devices away to family together with a new battery, and being able to do that definitely influences my buying decisions as a gadget enthusiast. You're right about most batteries being easily replaceable even on most new phones, but the One is a really bad precedent.

Even though I can afford buying a new phone more than once per year, resources used to manufacture our shiny tools don't generally grow on trees, and I'd gladly pay the dollar, heck, even 100, if it means making my hobby a bit more sustainable.Reply